FoundationSearch Pricing: Quotes, Terms and BIG Online

GrantCue sells one of the products compared here, so every competitor figure below is tied to a public page and the date it was read.

FoundationSearch does not publish a price. Its subscribe page says Metasoft Systems, the company in Vancouver, Canada behind it, quotes each subscription by product (FoundationSearch, BIG Online in the US, Canada or both), by length of 1 to 5 years, and by the number of users, and asks you to call or email for that quote (FoundationSearch subscribe page, read October 2026). No list price or monthly rate appears on any FoundationSearch or BIG Online page we read.

What the site does publish is the contract. A subscription renews automatically for a term as long as the first one unless you give written notice at least 60 days before it ends, and "All Subscriptions are non-refundable" (FoundationSearch Terms of Use and License Agreement, read October 2026). Those two lines matter more than usual, because a quote can run up to five years.

Quick Answer: How Much Does FoundationSearch Cost?

FoundationSearch publishes no price. Metasoft quotes each subscription by product (FoundationSearch, BIG Online, US, Canada or both), term of 1 to 5 years and number of users (FoundationSearch subscribe page, read October 2026). Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled in writing 60 days before the term ends, and they are non-refundable.

What Sets a FoundationSearch Quote

The subscribe page lists the inputs to a quote and offers "Basic subscriptions" to "non-profit, government, for-profit and consulting organizations" (FoundationSearch subscribe page, read October 2026). The join page adds that a consultant will give "a no obligation fund worthiness evaluation, orientation tour and membership information" before you buy (FoundationSearch How to Join page, read October 2026).

FoundationSearch also says who it is built for. The home page describes it as "a subscription based service designed for established US non-profits seeking significant funding", and its return-on-investment page says "our average client is in the top 10% in terms of assets and income" (FoundationSearch home page and ROI page, read October 2026). Those are the vendor's words, and they suggest the product is aimed at larger organizations.

User reports point the same way. In a December 2024 thread, one commenter who had used the service said it "does the job" but called it "way overpriced" and "only useful if you're a large organization with an entire grants team" (Reddit thread 1hbc9z6, read October 2026). That is one person's account, not a price.

FoundationSearch and BIG Online: Two Products, One Quote

Metasoft sells two research databases. FoundationSearch is the foundation research product; BIG Online is a broader funding database that, on FoundationSearch's own page, covers "25,000 foundations, corporate donors, matching gift programs, in kind donations, and government grant makers" plus proposal-writing guides and templates (FoundationSearch BIG Online page, read October 2026).

The counts are not consistent across Metasoft's pages. The BIG Online home page at bigdatabase.com describes profiles on "over 218,000 foundations and over 12,000 Canadian foundations", and the FoundationSearch home page says BIG Online includes "over 230,000 US and Canadian foundations" (bigdatabase.com and FoundationSearch home page, read October 2026). Because both products sit on the same subscribe page, ask which product, which country and which data set each line of a quote covers.

What a FoundationSearch Subscription Covers

FoundationSearch's comparison page lists 218,276 searchable US private foundations, 29,813,340 searchable US grants, 496,608 searchable US charities, granting years 2000 to 2025, and weekly data updates (FoundationSearch product comparison page, read October 2026). The same page lists tools for prospect management with calendar sync, relationship mapping between foundations, corporations and directors, AI chat in foundation profiles, exports of up to 1,000 records per report, team activity tracking, a dedicated member manager, CFRE-accredited education modules, and a database of 250+ winning proposals and letters of inquiry.

That page is FoundationSearch's case for its own product, and it says so: it sets out "why FoundationSearch is the superior choice" against "Foundation Directory Online Professional". Candid's pricing page now lists Free, Premium, Ultimate and Enterprise plans (Candid pricing page, read October 2026), so the figures are FoundationSearch's own, set against a Candid tier that Candid's pricing page no longer shows.

Contract Terms to Read Before You Sign

Four lines in the Terms of Use and License Agreement decide what a FoundationSearch subscription costs over time (FoundationSearch Terms of Use and License Agreement, read October 2026).

The renewal clause comes first. The agreement "shall automatically renew for successive terms equal in duration to the initial term" unless either party gives written notice of non-renewal "at least sixty (60) days prior to the expiration". A three-year contract, unless stopped, renews for three more years.

Price changes come with notice. "Any price adjustments for the Renewal Term will be communicated in writing at least sixty (60) days prior to renewal", so the notice of a new price and the last day to cancel fall in the same window.

Refunds are ruled out. "All Subscriptions are non-refundable", and a license can be suspended or ended "without notice or refund" if Metasoft believes the terms were broken.

Seats are personal. A registered user is "a single user at a single site", and by default one person is designated. The license covers use "for the sole purpose of meeting its own fundraising needs", and sharing information from FoundationSearch with third parties breaks the agreement. A consultant who researches for clients should ask Metasoft in writing how that clause applies before signing.

How to Compare a Quote With Published Prices

Since FoundationSearch has no list price, judge a quote against databases that publish one. These are each vendor's own figures, read in October 2026.

Sources: Candid pricing page, GrantStation membership and discounts pages, Instrumentl pricing page, Grantmakers.io and ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, all read October 2026.

Ask for the quote per year and per user so it lines up with this table, and ask for a one-year price even if a longer term is offered. The grant database pricing comparison carries more of the market, and the Foundation Directory Online cost guide covers Candid's terms in detail.

Check Five Funders for Free First

The filings behind any foundation database are public. The IRS posts Form 990 series e-filings as free XML downloads, organized by year and month (IRS Form 990 series downloads, read October 2026). Grantmakers.io searches the 990-PF data for free with "No login, no lock up", and ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer shows full filings and was updated October 22, 2026 (Grantmakers.io home page and ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, read October 2026).

Look up five funders you already know before the demo, and note what the free tools could not tell you. Bring that list to the orientation tour and ask FoundationSearch to show those five. A tool that answers what the free search could not is worth pricing; one that repeats it is not. The free foundation directory guide walks through the free readers.

GrantCue, which publishes this guide, offers one more free check: a public directory of 11,279 private foundations built from 990-PF filings, and a Free plan at $0 for one user tracking up to 10 grants, with Essentials at $49 a month for up to 3 users (grantcue.com/foundations and grantcue.com/pricing, read October 2026). Its foundation coverage is far smaller than the 218,276 foundations FoundationSearch lists, so treat it as a way to screen funders before a demo, not as a like-for-like replacement.

FAQ

How Much Does FoundationSearch Cost?

FoundationSearch does not publish a price. Metasoft quotes each subscription by product (FoundationSearch, BIG Online, US, Canada or both), term of 1 to 5 years and number of users, and asks buyers to call or email (FoundationSearch subscribe page, read October 2026). A figure quoted on another site is not a FoundationSearch list price, so confirm it with Metasoft.

Does FoundationSearch Have a Free Trial?

Its pages describe no self-serve trial. FoundationSearch offers a free orientation tour and "a no obligation fund worthiness evaluation" with one of its consultants (FoundationSearch How to Join page, read October 2026). Free 990 search tools such as Grantmakers.io let you test funders yourself before that call.

Can You Cancel a FoundationSearch Subscription?

You can stop it renewing, but you cannot get money back. The agreement renews automatically for a term equal to the first unless you give written notice at least 60 days before it expires, and "All Subscriptions are non-refundable" (FoundationSearch Terms of Use and License Agreement, read October 2026). Put the notice date on the calendar when you sign.

Is BIG Online Priced Separately From FoundationSearch?

They are separate products on one subscribe page, and you can buy one or more of them: FoundationSearch, BIG Online in the US, Canada or both (FoundationSearch subscribe page, read October 2026). Neither has a published price. Ask for each product as its own line on the quote.

Who Is FoundationSearch Built For?

FoundationSearch describes itself as "designed for established US non-profits seeking significant funding" and says its average client "is in the top 10% in terms of assets and income" (FoundationSearch home page and ROI page, read October 2026). Basic subscriptions are offered to nonprofit, government, for-profit and consulting organizations (FoundationSearch subscribe page, read October 2026).

What to Get in Writing

Before you sign, get the product and country, the term, the number of registered users and their names, the price per year, the renewal price or the rule that sets it, and the last date to give notice of non-renewal. Ask how a consultant's client work fits the license if that applies to you. With no refunds and an automatic renewal of the same length, those dates and numbers decide what the subscription costs over its life.